083 Lure
The background is white. ; Panel 1 Zane, still on his hands and knees, is crawling towards one of the figures, his expression anguished and one hand outstretched as he says "Oh no. *No*." Only part of the figure can be seen, but it is not covered by a sheet. It appears to be the legs of Angstrom, starting to sink slightly into the snow. There are two other figures lying on the ground far in the distance behind Zane, with no identifying details possible. The scene is entirely white, with the wind and snow partially obscuring Zane and Angstrom. ; Panel 2. Zane kneels by Angstrom's side, squinting and supporting himself with one arm as he raises the other up as if to shield his face. He says "Doc? *Doc* --" Angstrom is lying face up on the ground beside him. His entire face has sunk in on itself, such that only his ear and the back of his head can be seen, and there's a second large hole covering his chest and abdomen. His neck seems to be withered, as well as his thighs. One hand lays next to him, while his other is resting near the hole in his chest. Two other figures laying face up are far in the background, and the snow continues to blow over the scene. ; Panel 3. Zane, still on his hands and knees next to Angstrom's body, is seen from behind, starting to look up at a shadowy figure in the distance. Red text near Zane's head without any speech or thought bubble surrounding it says "So close now, so close." Between the distance and the blindingly white setting, no details can be made out about the figure. There is a large patch of blood on Zane's lower back. A few feet in front of Zane and Angstrom is Mayor Osgood's body, lying face up. His face is sunken in, and his hat lies on the snow above his head. Two other figures are visible in the distance, but no details can be made out. Large flakes of snow continue to blow around Zane and the corpses. ; Panel 4. A voice from offscreen says "Wadsworth?" Zane, still on his hands and knees, is looking up at something in front of him. His eyes are blank and terrified, and his expression is petrified. ; Panel 5. Zane's face cannot be seen, but his eyebrows are fearful as he looks up at Iris, who's standing in front of him. She's wearing her winter coat and scarf, with her hands in her pockets, and is smiling at him. Zane attempts to say "Iris -- stay away. *Stay away from me*." However, his speech bubbles are faded and almost entirely unreadable. Iris' own speech bubble is normal, as she says "How have you been?" ; Panel 6. A long, sinewy hand erupts from Zane's lower back, stretching toward the sky with its four fingers spread out. The words "Come closer" spread across the top of the panel in very large, red text. The letters are written in the same font as the rest of the text, but they're not on the same level, with some subtly higher and some subtly lower than the others. The effect is jarring and uncontrolled. Zane, still on his hands and knees, appears to be overcome by pain, barely supporting himself with one hand and curling the other into a fist. His eyes are blank and terrified, and his mouth is wide open in horror. A shower of blood shoots from the spot where the hand emerged, and the bloody fabric of Zane's shirt puckers and tears around it. There are several long cord-like lines looping out of Zane's back and twisting up around the arm. The arm is colored in shades of blue and green, and it has a thumb and a joint at the elbow like a human arm, but the position it's in doesn't appear to be possible for a human arm. It appears sinewy, without any skin covering it up, and the fingers are long and thin, slightly bent as they reach up. The snow continues to fall, and the sky above the words "Come closer" is a faint blue.